AUSTIN, Texas — Declines in blue-collar jobs may have left some working-class men frustrated by unmet job expectations and more likely to suffer an early death by suicide or drug poisoning, according to a study led by sociologists at The University of Texas at Austin.

In the study, the researchers compared life outcomes of 11,680 men to the job expectations they held as high school seniors in the early 1980s. The study showed that men who expected to work in jobs that did not require a college degree but later faced declines in the job market were nearly three times as likely to suffer early deaths by suicide and drug poisoning as men who sought work that required a bachelor’s degree.

The study, published in JAMA Network Open, is the first to link the rise in suicide and drug-poisoning deaths among men without a college degree to declines in working-class jobs.

“Work plays a major role in how individuals experience their communities, derive a sense of purpose, and thus develop a sense of psychological well-being,” said lead author Chandra Muller, a sociology professor and researcher at the Population Research Center at UT Austin. “It’s possible that occupational expectations developed in adolescence serve as a benchmark for perceptions of adult success and, when unmet, pose a risk of self-injury.”

Early death from self-injury has risen dramatically in recent decades, especially among middle-age white men whose deaths by suicide and drug poisoning increased by 9 and 31 per 100,000 (respectively) between 1980 and 2013. At the same time, the labor market also experienced a discerning trend: the decline of well-paying jobs that do not require a college degree.

Researchers from UT Austin, the University of Minnesota and the University of Wisconsin-Madison investigated the relationship between the two trends using data from the High School and Beyond cohort, a nationally representative sample of 11,680 men who were surveyed throughout high school in the early 1980s, again in 1992 (when they were 28-30 years old), and again in 2015.

Between 1992 and 2015, less than 6% of the sample had died. The researchers compared suicide and drug poisoning deaths, which are forms of self-injury, to other causes of early adult deaths, such as heart attacks and cancer. They found that the men most likely to suffer a death by suicide or drug poisoning were those who as adolescents expected to earn enough to support a family through some type of semi-skilled labor that later declined when they reached adulthood, such as manufacturing, mechanics and carpentry.

The study showed that neither educational attainment nor the actual job worked increased risk for death by self-injury. Furthermore, unmet occupational expectations were not associated with a higher risk of an early death by natural or other causes. This comparison further strengthened their conclusions about a link between a decline of working-class jobs and deaths of despair.

“Our findings suggest closed pathways to sustaining working-class jobs may contribute to men’s increasing rates of suicide and drug-poisoning mortality,” Muller said. “The social, psychological and cultural ideals associated with certain occupations are important considerations in labor policy, such as minimum wage policies or job retraining programs, as strategies for suicide prevention.”

A 33-year-old Dearborn police officer took his life late last month, shooting himself in the head, the Wayne County Medical Examiner ruled this week. 

Christopher Hampton’s body was found on Nov. 25 near the Southfield Freeway and Michigan Avenue. A 10-year veteran of the force, the officer had been cleared of fatally shooting 35-year-old Kevin Matthews five years ago, but still faced a civil lawsuit.

Police Chief Ronald Haddad called Hampton’s death a “tragic situation.” 

Vermeulen-Sajewski Funeral Home in Westland is overseeing arrangements. Limited capacity services were held Wednesday. The Police Officers Charity set up a memorial fund for his daughter.

Hampton was involved in a $10 million wrongful death lawsuit against the city in which a judge ruled last year there was enough doubt about the police explanation for the shooting for the case to go to trial.

In October 2020, more people died by suicide in Japan than were killed by the novel coronavirus in 10 months. Experts say this alarming spike is being partially driven by women, who often work in industries most affected by the pandemic.

TOKYO — Eriko Kobayashi has tried to kill herself four times.

The first time, she was just 22 years old with a full-time job in publishing that didn’t pay enough to cover her rent and grocery bills in Tokyo. “I was really poor,” said Kobayashi, who spent three days unconscious in hospital after the incident.

Now 43, Kobayashi has written books on her mental health struggles and has a steady job at an NGO. But the coronavirus is bringing back the stress she used to feel.

“My salary was cut, and I cannot see the light at the end of the tunnel,” she said. “I constantly feel a sense of crisis that I might fall back into poverty.”

Experts have warned that the pandemic could lead to a mental health crisis. Mass unemployment, social isolation, and anxiety are taking their toll on people globally.

In Japan, government statistics show suicide claimed more lives in October than Covid-19 has over the entire year to date. The monthly number of Japanese suicides rose to 2,153 in October, according to Japan’s National Police Agency. As of Friday, Japan’s total Covid-19 toll was 2,087, the health ministry said.

Japan is one of the few major economies to disclose timely suicide data — the most recent national data for the US, for example, is from 2018. The Japanese data could give other countries insights into the impact of pandemic measures on mental health, and which groups are the most vulnerable.

“We didn’t even have a lockdown, and the impact of Covid is very minimal compared to other countries … but still we see this big increase in the number of suicides,” said Michiko Ueda, an associate professor at Waseda University in Tokyo, and an expert on suicides.

“That suggests other countries might see a similar or even bigger increase in the number of suicides in the future.”

Read the rest of the article here: abc7news.com

The sixth-grader had his audio and video turned off in a Zoom class with Woodbridge Elementary School during the incident.

LOCAL

California elementary student shoots self during Zoom distance learning class

The sixth-grader had his audio and video turned off in a Zoom class with Woodbridge Elementary School during the incident.

Credit: San Joaquin County Sheriff’s OfficeA Lodi elementary student is dead after shooting himself during an online Zoom class.Author: Samantha Solomon (ABC10), Van Tieu (ABC10)Published: 4:40 PM PST December 2, 2020Updated: 7:35 PM PST December 3, 2020

WOODBRIDGE, Calif. — Update: 

The boy’s family said Thursday that the shooting was an accident. 

A San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson told ABC10 Thursday that the preliminary findings indicate the shooting was intentional.

Wednesday’s story:

A Woodbridge Elementary School student died Wednesday after shooting himself while on a distance learning Zoom call, the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office said.

Read the rest of the article here: CBS8.com

Too often, suicide attempts and deaths by suicide, especially among the young, become family secrets that are not investigated and dealt with in ways that might protect others from a similar fate.

By Jane E. Brody

• Dec. 2, 2019

The death of a child is most parents’ worst nightmare, one made even worse when it is self-inflicted. This very tragedy has become increasingly common among young people in recent years. And adults — parents, teachers, clinicians and politicians — should be asking why and what they can do to prevent it.

In October, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that after a stable period from 2000 to 2007, the rate of suicide among those aged 10 to 24 increased dramatically — by 56 percent — between 2007 and 2017, making suicide the second leading cause of death in this age group, following accidents like car crashes.

“We’re in the middle of a full-blown mental health crisis for adolescents and young adults,” said Jean M. Twenge, research psychologist at San Diego State University and author of the book “iGen,” about mental health trends among those born since 1995. “The evidence is strong and consistent both for symptoms and behavior.”

Read the rest of the article at the New York Times.